Waves
by Luxray In Fanfictionland
Summary: After an adventure in Sinnoh, Dawn is relaxing in Unova's Undella Town. She's not alone, and never will be. Girlpowershipping.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: I decided to retool the story I was working on into something more fluffy. Sorry if you enjoyed the chapters I posted before, but I can do better. Please review if you like this.**

* * *

The sand felt good between her toes. Warm, soft, squidgy. It was hard to deny the appeal of the sand that made up the beaches of Undella Bay. It was a tourist hotspot for a reason, after all, and Dawn doubted that tourists came to see the Basculin thrashing about in the water.

Then she remembered the new Marine Tube that had been constructed last year and shook her head. Dawn had been to see it last week. It was all very technically impressive, but the water had been empty apart from the vicious striped Pokémon, and the weight of all the water over her head had made her feel claustrophobic. Perhaps some tourists did come to see the Basculin, but Dawn was certainly not going to be one of them.

Not that there were many tourists around right now, or Basculin for that matter. It was calm, clear, and warm; a day in late May that was altogether the best sort of day one could expect a few weeks before summertime - and the associated decamping of tourists - began. Admittedly being shacked up in a private villa meant that the gaggle of tourists that took to the beaches and streets of Undella Town would not be a problem in any case, but Dawn was appreciating the peace and quiet afforded by not having holidaymakers' voices drift up to her on the wind.

Dawn looked over at the town, masked by gentle undulations of moderate spring heat over the intervening mile of beach. Nothing of interest there. She yawned lazily.

Sunbathing was hard work.

Her mind wandered, as her toes continued kneading the sand at the end of the blanket.

Unova was nice, if very different to Sinnoh. Warmer, bigger, more industrialised, and with a plethora of Pokémon Dawn could never have imagined even existed; it would all be a bit overwhelming if not for the fact that she had only seen cursory parts of the area so far. Dawn hoped to explore it one day. She wasn't sure that she was ready for another adventure just yet, though.

After all, she'd just finished one that had proved utterly exhausting.

Dawn counted in her head. Two weeks and four - no, five - days ago she had been battling for her place as the official Sinnoh Pokémon League Champion. After a long and difficult battle which she had been close to winning, she had been defeated. Dawn didn't feel too bad about it losing the match, though; she had won in other ways. Most notably, she considered the way that the battle had catalysed the start of a relationship with that very Champion a particular victory.

"Ow." Dawn opened one eye and squinted up at her transgressor. "I was just thinking about you."

"Liar." Cynthia smiled. "I'm surprised I got any reaction. You looked deep in thought. Lost to the world."

"Mmmm." Dawn made a non-committal noise. "It's easy to get distracted when you have kind and generous girls waiting on you hand and foot, providing you with attention and villas to sunbathe in front of and five-star cooking. And it's easy to weather kicks from someone who is wearing foam sandals."

Cynthia frowned and fumbled, pulling a water bottle from the pocket of her shorts, then tossed it to where Dawn was lying on the sand.

"Catch."

"Thank you." Dawn unscrewed the cap and drank a little.

"So you were just thinking about me, huh?"

"No," Dawn admitted, "I was thinking about us. And how happy I am that it all worked out this way."

The blonde girl lay down next to Dawn on the blanket. "Me too."

"The past few weeks I've been pinching myself. I expect to wake up at any moment and find myself lying prone at the summit of Mt Coronet, hallucinating as I gasp out my last breaths before succumbing to hypothermia or the machinations of more power-crazed ne'er-do-wells."

Cynthia took Dawn's hand. "Feel real enough to you?"

Dawn smiled happily. "Yeah. I picked well, you know. I don't normally fall in love with people who own fewer than five international properties."

Cynthia squeezed her girlfriend's hand in amusement. "We don't get to choose who we fall in love with," she began, "but I don't think it worked out badly for us at all."

Dawn squeezed back. "All those times you wanted to meet me to see how I was getting on, I'm surprised you didn't have an ulterior motive."

Cynthia laughed. "No, I really did want to mentor you and help you through your journey as a Trainer. But once it became apparent that you didn't really need my help, I wanted to see you because I wanted to be your friend." She paused and moved to whisper in Dawn's ear. "I think it worked."

"It definitely did." Dawn shuffled into the taller girl's chest and made herself comfortable. "Though I don't think friends one day end up having desperate, tearful sex in the recesses of the Sinnoh Pokémon League building." She paused and smiled as her face went a bit pinker than before. "But I'm happy that we did..."

Cynthia blushed as she remembered. The aftermath of their Championship match had released a lot of pent-up feelings, and whilst a crying and consolatory mutual love confession was the sort of thing you expected to find in clichéd fictional romances, Cynthia supposed it was not the worst way to begin a relationship. Nor was rushing from her Champion's battlefield to find a place for passionate and conciliatory make-up sex. It was memorable, at least.

"Well, you know what they say," Cynthia whispered as she took a hand up to touch Dawn's shoulder, "practice makes perfect." Her voice dropped coyly. "I think we've been getting plenty."

Dawn could not disagree. They had cancelled quite a number of their planned activities in the last week when things got the better of them. And honestly, having a double bed in their villa house was clearly a sign that some higher force wanted them to put it to use.

She rolled over and had some more of her water. "It must be something in this, you know."

"Then I shall remain eternally grateful that young girls like yourself drink so much of the stuff."

The bluenette smiled. They had talked about their age difference yesterday, deciding that it didn't really make a difference to themselves or other people. Dawn was sixteen-going-on-seventeen, and Cynthia twenty-two; whilst other people might - and probably would - disapprove in the future, the two girls were not going to let themselves care overly much about what other people thought. That didn't stop them teasing each other from time to time, though.

Dawn extricated herself from the cold, watery clutches of her drink. "Ahhh." She went back to ensconce herself in the warm shoulder and neck of her girl. "Mmmmm. So what do you want to do for the rest of the day?"

"I dunno," Cynthia responded, lazily raising her arm to check her watch. "It's 3pm. What do you feel like?"

"I feel like falling asleep in this warmth, next to you," Dawn mumbled. "Then later I am going to cook you and me dinner and you will tell me it is delicious. After that, when it is dark, we will go for a walk and watch those weird glowy Pokémon -"

"Frillish."

"- those weird glowy Frillish in the bay whilst holding hands. Then we will come back, fuck each other silly, and fall asleep tangled in each others' arms..."

Cynthia laughed lightly, moving her hand up to stroke Dawn's hair. She had been amazed in the last weeks to discover that the deceptively cute, blue-haired girl could come out with the most forthright and lewd things without a trace of embarassment, when it suited her. A hidden romantic as well, apparently.

She was very glad that the lack of five international properties was not a deal-breaker for Dawn. Dawn, cute and lewd, and irreplaceable for all the world.

"That sounds just great." And Cynthia couldn't for the life of her fathom how her life had been happy before.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Here's Chapter 2. [Don't get your hopes for anything l-lewd, now.]**

* * *

Tap tap tap tap tap.

Cynthia opened her eyes blearily and glanced around. Light was streaming in through the wide windows of the beachside villa. Dawn liked to leave the curtains open so that they could look at the stars together. Dawn loved the stars, and loved the fact that the Unovan skies were different to the ones she remembered from her travels across Sinnoh. Unova's problem with light pollution was infamous, but Undella Town was not insufferable, and the view of the sky that could be seen from their bedroom windows was actually rather nice.

That gave Cynthia a wicked idea, which she filed away primly for later use.

Concentrating on matters of the present, she quickly and tentatively looked around, trying to find where the insufferable alarm clock had disappeared to.

Tap tap tap tap _tap._

Shuffling gently so as not to wake the girl next to her - who, true to her promise, had indeed fallen asleep with her arms entangled with Cynthia's - Cynthia spun around the clock on the bedside cabinet.

08:50.

Who in the world could be knocking this early in the morning, and who in the world even knew they were here?

It was way too early to even begin to figure these things ou-

TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP.

Cynthia blew air out from her mouth in exasperation. She decided to see who it was before Dawn got woken up. Dawn was a very sound sleeper, but Cynthia doubted she'd last long under this kind of concussive assault.

"Alright, I'm coming, I'm coming," she mumbled, pulling a dressing gown out of the closet to cover up her sleepwear. Undella Town might have been a beach resort, but it was often cold in the mornings. The mists that blew down from the north cape were infamous for bringing the chill; and in any case, Cynthia did not envisage doing anything except crawling back into bed after she saw to and dealt with this transgressor upon her and Dawn's quiet sleep. Dressing was unmerited.

Cynthia moved out into the hallway, shuffling towards the frosted glass front do-

"Shit."

By the shadows and half-visible forms by the front of the door, Cynthia suddenly knew exactly who was knocking. Not that it made it any easier to deal with. Quite the contrary - now she'd have to come up with a decent excuse and be passingly polite.

Muffled voices spoke from outside. "I don't think she's here, we should go and get the spare key fr-"

Cynthia chained the door and swung it open quickly as far as the chain would allow, before peering through the gap with the most tired expression she could muster.

"Jesus, Shishi, you look like crap."

Outside on the steps, Skyla and Elesa were leaned against the rail. Skyla was sporting an uncharacteristically modest t-shirt and jeans ensemble, whilst Elesa was wearing a slim summer dress patterned with dancing Sunflora. Cynthia ran her hand through her hair in frustration, the tangles mirroring the one she had ended up with on her doorstep. It was not totally unexpected to see her two best friends in the region turn up, but neither was it totally welcome. Truth be told, Cynthia had rather hoped that Dawn and she would be able to have their morning uninterrupted.

"And you look as lovely as ever, Skyla. Thank you for waking me."

"That's okay!" Skyla enthused, before remembering that she should probably be a little more apologetic. Her smile turned into a pout. "We're sorry for waking you up though, really. We had no idea anyone was here, so we were planning to use this place for the weekend."

Elesa said nothing, but gave Cynthia a look that seemed to say 'this was her idea'.

"Don't I own this place now?" Cynthia asked.

"Mayyyybe. Details are unimportant."

Cynthia looked nonplussed and made a noncommittal sound.

"So why did you knock at all? You could have just cracked the window." Cynthia asked. "At least Elesa keeps you in check."

"This trip was her idea!" Skyla countered.

Elesa made her most innocent face at Cynthia. Which, truth be told, looked heinously guilty. She might have found this situation funny if it wasn't so disruptive. Cynthia ran a hand over her face and unchained the door, opening it wider and resting her shoulder on the doorframe.

"You'd be bashing me with a pillow right now if you had come by yourself, Skyla. Hello Elesa, by the way. Your dress is very pretty. I'm sure if I were more cogent I could offer you a specific compliment on it."

"That's alright, Cynthia," Elesa smiled. "I'm sorry we disturbed you. You're an early riser though, even on holidays. We thought that even if you were in, you'd be awake by now."

"I had, a, um, somewhat late night," Cynthia offered lamely.

The perky and perceptive Skyla piped up. "And why would that be, Shishi? Got one of your toyboys round?" Skyla winked, always playful. "One of your toy_girls_?"

Cynthia flushed heavily and began to reply, "Y-you know I don't do toyboys-"

"Oh my God," Elesa interrupted, shocked and quite without sarcasm. "You do."

Shit.

Was it that obvious? Cynthia had never been very good at hiding things. Her girlfriend said it was one of her endearing qualities. But endearing qualities did not make for comfortable conversations on the doorstep.

Cynthia had not yet told anybody about Dawn. Hell, she had not had time. Their relationship was not only new, it was socially frowned upon, and hard to explain to outsiders. They had barely got used to it themselves. Even if those outsiders were her friends, Cynthia had no idea if Dawn felt comfortable sharing their relationship with them. Dawn was perfectly happy to go out holding Cynthia's hands in the middle of Undella Town, where nobody knew who they were. But with people Cynthia had known for years? She didn't know. Cynthia was certainly not quite ready to admit everything to her friends, especially not in her dressing gown at nine a.m. in the morning after only four or five hours of sleep.

With such thoughts flying through her platinum-blonde head at a hundred miles per minute, silence reigned.

She could rescue this.

Cynthia desperately tried to stop her face getting redder and tried to think of something to reply with. Neither was working. Her mouth flapped like a Magikarp, working aimlessly to produce a sound that refused to come.

Maybe she couldn't rescue this.

Elesa let out a high pitched half-laugh, half-squeal. "Oh, this is, um, unexpected! I'm sorry Cynthia, we didn't mean to intrude-", she said, before she herself was intruded upon by Skyla's exuberant gushing.

"Oh my gooood Shishi, who is it? Can we meeeeet them, pleaaaase..."

"Shhhh, please," Cynthia pleaded, her voice begging for clemency. "You'll wake, um, you'll wake them up."

"Shh Sky, honestly," Elesa scolded. She shuffled her gorgeous model's feet. "Should we, um, leave you to it? We don't want to get in your hair."

"Considering the mess it is in, you wouldn't be able to fit," Cynthia smiled wanly. "Uhm, I'm not sure if I'm ready, I-I... just woke up after all..."

The twenty-two-year old felt rather mortified and was by now a red deeper than Skyla's infamous hair colour. If there was any more blood in her face, she felt certain it would rupture. Her eyes turned to the floor.

Even Skyla seemed to pick up the message. "Hey, C, it's okay, we'll go, okay? Don't be embarrassed, please," she pleaded. "You don't have to, okay? We didn't mean to force you into anything."

Cynthia shook her head. "It's fine," she said quietly, her face still hot, "I'm sure... they'll, um, want to meet you later... just let me ask, okay? I don't want to overwhelm anyone... it's just unexpected... you know..."

Skyla nodded and smiled. "Yeah. I know." She dropped her voice. "Um, can I ask..."

Cynthia nodded silently, and tiredly.

"Is it... serious?"

Cynthia couldn't help the smile that came to her, despite how discomfited she was. Dawn was the cause of a great many unbidden smiles recently.

"I think it is. I hope it is."

Skyla scrunched up her face in happiness and tilted her head. "That's so great."

Elesa looked plainly at her fellow blonde. "Okay, Cynth, just give us a call whenever, we've got our crosstransceivers." She smiled encouragingly. "We'll go up to Humilau for the day."

Skyla smiled. "Yep! Maybe we can take you out for dinner or something later?"

Elesa glared at her friend. "You just want an excuse for more food; I swear it's your number one concern these days..."

Before Skyla had a chance to respond, Elesa dragged her away by the hand, smiling back and winking at Cynthia as she did so.

As the other two girls receded slowly into the distance, Cynthia rested her forehead against the doorframe and let out a sigh. She shivered, half in nerves, and made her way back to the bedroom.

Dawn was, miraculously, still asleep. Cynthia crawled back into bed. Perhaps another hour's worth of sleep would give her the conviction she'd need to face her friends later on in the day.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: It's chapter 3! We're rapidly approaching Plot Territory (tm). Rest assured that there is a plot planned, even if it takes a lot of cutesy gearing up to get to it! Anyway I hope you enjoy this next instalment. Please review, favourite and follow!**

* * *

Cynthia woke up for the second time and opened her eyes. This time, the clock read a much more respectable 10:40.

She rolled over in the bed to check on Dawn, only to see that Dawn was already awake. A pair of bright blue eyes was already staring at her, full of amusement.

"Good morning," Dawn whispered.

Her eyes widened. Dawn was quite a sight in the morning. Sure, Cynthia grew restless every time she saw the outline of Dawn's svelte five-foot-figure under the blanket, but it was her hair that attracted her attention every time she woke up. Dawn's blue hair fell untidily over her face in the most appealing way, as if it were the result of staging rather than the consequence of a night's sleep. Cynthia thought it was gorgeous, and rather envied her: the girl looked as if she could get straight up from bed and into any kind of clothes and look presentable straight away. Cynthia's hair, conversely, took twenty minutes to straighten and set every morning to look anything near decent, though the time had fallen considerably now that Dawn insisted on helping her with it. She couldn't complain. It felt rather good to get such a willing assistant, not to mention the fact that not only was her helper gentle and very proficient, she interspersed the brushing and hairspray with copious amounts of kissing.

Cynthia's eyes didn't stay on Dawn's hair long. She snapped back to attention and focused resolutely on her girlfriend's face. There were serious matters to discuss, after all.

"Hey," Cynthia whispered back. It felt wrong to say anything louder, especially after the loud start to the day. "Did you sleep alright?"

"Yeah, I just woke up," Dawn admitted. "I slept like a Snorlax." The blue-haired girl pulled a face and put her tongue out in mimicry.

"That's good," Cynthia said softly. "You're much thinner than a Snorlax, though. I like that."

"You're not bad yourself, you know." Dawn said, shuffling up to lie directly next to her girlfriend. She wrapped her arms around her. "Yep, I think you feel up to standards."

Cynthia reflected that small things like this were definitely underappreciated.

She hugged the smaller girl back. "Mmmmmm. I'm glad you didn't get woken up this morning."

Dawn pulled her head off Cynthia's shoulder to look into her face. "Woken up? What by?"

"Oh, some friends of mine came by a few hours ago this morning. I thought that they would break the door, they were knocking on it so hard."

"Oh. No, I didn't hear anything. I should probably be glad," Dawn smiled. "But I didn't know you had friends in Unova. I guess it's not really surprising, though." Dawn put her lips to the blonde's ear. "I hope they're not going to steal you away any time soon," she whispered.

"Definitely not," Cynthia said back. "Their names are Skyla and Elesa. They're Gym Leaders in the Unova region, and my friends. Uhm... I'm not sure how to say this, but... they'd like to meet you."

"You say it as if it's a bad thing," Dawn scolded, half-playfully. "You're not ashamed of our relationship, are you?"

"Dawn, I could never be ashamed of you," Cynthia blushed. "It sounds awfully cliché, but it's true. You're really special to me. I'm just not fully adjusted to having such a ... well, any sort of girlfriend," she continued. "I'm just worried about how my friends will judge me."

"If they are really your friends, they won't judge you at all."

"I suppose... but you have to admit, soliciting a sixteen-year-old is probably frowned upon by most people."

"I don't think you solicited anyone. Our relationship is mutual, you know? You fell for me just as much as I fell for you," Dawn responded. "It's definitely not a bad thing."

"You might be right," Cynthia stated. "That doesn't preclude me from being nervous about it, or other people from having their own opinions about it."

"They're your friends," Dawn started. "I'm sure they are your are friends because you get on well, right? I can only assume they are nice people. And as much as I want to make a good impression on them... I'm not terribly worried, because I know anyone who was your friend in the first place isn't a terrible person." Dawn smiled and pushed her blue hair out of her eyes, as she moved up closer to Cynthia's face. "You are stressing about it too much." Dawn gave Cynthia a chaste kiss on the lips, before retreating back to her pillow. "It'll be fine. I''ll look forward to it, okay?"

"Damn you and your logic," Cynthia smiled. "I'm still nervous though."

"Don't be. We've done harder things in life. I'm sure we can manage a social interaction." Dawn winked. "Those tend not to be physically dangerous, at least."

"I guess we can." Cynthia smiled. "You are right though." A wry look came over her. "As usual."

Dawn smiled too. "I knew I was the brains behind this operation. Even if you are an accredited archaeologist and Sinnoh League Champion."

"These things mean nothing when it's matters that concern you," Cynthia said, correcting herself, "that concern us. Anyway. They said I should call them when you wanted to meet up. Perhaps I can do it this afternoon."

"I'd like that," Dawn admitted. "I'm sure they'll be happy for us! If they can get over the shock..."

Cynthia moved to give Dawn a tight hug. "Okay then," she started, clutching Dawn and talking directly to her. "Still, you say that; Elesa is an Electric-type expert. I'm sure she's accustomed to shocks. Perhaps we can have dinner together? What shall we eat?"

Dawn drew circles on Cynthia's back. "I can think of one thing," she chimed.

"You're never satisfied, are you?" Cynthia joked. "I should have been warned my lover was a Lopunny."

Dawn blushed. "How can I resist when I have a gorgeous blonde in my bed? It's practically entrapment."

"Pfft. Entrapment, no way. You always wake up insatiable."

"And you love me for it."

"I've been Sinnoh champion for four years. Four years of stress left me less tired than the first few days of our relationship." Cynthia kissed Dawn on the forehead. "Yes, I love you for it."

Dawn rolled back to her side of the bed and made as if to get up. "Well then, I suppose we had better make plans, huh?"

* * *

In the end, they planned everything but the best way to introduce themselves. It was definitely possible to worry too much about things, Cynthia mused.

It was true, though. Her normal calm professionalism had evaporated into a semi-nervous state of suspension.

It was six o'clock, and the two girls were trying their best to relax in the front room of the villa. Given the season, the sun was lazily twisting its way down the sky, though it was nowhere near setting yet. The windows were open and a warm breeze overlaid the sound of the splashing waves not a hundred metres away.

Dawn was sitting down, fiddling with the hem of her dress. As calm as she had been, she was still a little nervous. There were certainly worse places to have awkward meetings, though, and the tranquility of the late Unovan afternoon was rather helpful in that regard.

Cynthia was sat opposite, staring out of the wide front window impatiently.

Suddenly, a knock at the door came, and Cynthia's stomach tightened.

Tap tap tap tap _tap!_

She looked at Dawn for one last vote of confidence. Dawn's eyes seemed to be encouraging. Cynthia hoped desperately it wasn't her imagination.

Her palms were sweaty as she walked unsteadily to the front door. Behind the frosted glass, she could see their invited guests.

Deep breath. Smile. Attempt to open door. Refuse to fumble with door handle. Grasp door handle. Open door.

Outside, Skyla and Elesa were both wearing smiles, as well as matching dresses. This time, the dancing Sunflora were absent, replaced by very demure fabric. Cynthia stared. They looked great, and she stuttered as much. "Hey. You look great. Both of you."

"Elesa's idea," Skyla grinned widely. "I'm glad you approve, though."

"I hope you're okay, C, you look nervous," Elesa offered. "Don't be, okay?" She smiled. "Honestly, it's fine."

Cynthia took a deep breath. "Come in then," she offered.

They made their way inside. The trio made their way through the hallway to the room where Dawn had been sitting.

When they entered, Dawn sprang up and walked over to be introduced.

"Skyla, Elesa, this is Dawn."

Dawn hesitated for the briefest moment, then stuck her hand out to be shaken. "Hi! It's good to meet you," she continued. "I've heard a lot about you."

Cynthia took her five hundredth deep breath of the day.

Skyla gave the widest grin and took her hand firmly. "I hope it's nothing too indecent. I'm Skyla."

Dawn smiled back. "Hey Skyla." She turned to the other blonde in the room. "That means you must be Elesa, right?"

Elesa had a measured look on her face. She nodded. "That's right. Cynthia neglected to tell us very much about you. Including the fact that you are so pretty!"

Cynthia let out the air she had been inadvertently holding in.

"I don't think I know anyone with blue hair," Elesa continued. "It looks wonderful. I bet C loves it."

Dawn blushed. "I-I think she does, yes," she hastily admitted.

Cynthia started speaking. "Does anyone want anything to drink?"

"I'll bring something out from the kitchen," Dawn said, keen to regain her composure after such a compliment.

"That sounds great," Skyla volunteered.

Dawn padded out of the room and made her way to the kitchen.

Once she was out of earshot, the two guests turned to Cynthia.

"Holy shit," Elesa stated plainly.

Cynthia looked crestfallen. "You don't approve?"

"Hell yes I approve," Elesa said, joyously. "She's gorgeous, C. I am jealous."

"I can guess why you were so worried," Skyla said. "Honestly Shishi, I never would have guessed, but even I can tell you two are gonna be great together."

Cynthia's melancholic face turned significantly upward. "Thanks. That really means a lot to me."

Skyla smiled too. "It's no trouble if it's the truth."

Cynthia felt warm inside. Perhaps her worrying had been for nothing.

"So... C... I don't know how to say this, but have you two..." Elesa started.

Cynthia blushed heavily. "Only about three times a day."

Elesa blushed too. "Holy shit," she repeated.

Skyla blushed too. "You two aren't messing around, huh? You said it was serious. I think we can appreciate just how much."

"I'll tell you the whole story later on," Cynthia began. "It's pretty long, and I'll need Dawn to offer her part of it as well."

Skyla looked at Elesa and smiled. "I think we'd like that."

Inadvertently, and without warning, they both hugged the Sinnoh Champion.

"Uuuuuuuf!" Cynthia let out. "If this is how approval feels, I dread to think how it would be if you didn't like her!"


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: It's Chapter 4! Thanks for sticking with me. You can probably guess where this story is going, huh? Please do all the reviewingness and stuff once you reach the end of the chapter! Also, to clarify, Skyla and Elesa are just friends. For now. Maybe forever. Who knows?**

* * *

Once the awkwardness and potential tension had been debunked (and Cynthia had somewhat recovered from her light bruising), the four could tell they were going to get along famously.

In the end, they had decided to go out for dinner, despite Dawn's protestations that she was really very good at cooking and not at all prone to burning down the kitchen and you're being silly that event last week was just a fluke. As the evening began to roll in over the already rolling waves of Undella's beach, they set out from the villa to find somewhere. At Elesa's recommendation, they moved to a small restaurant on the beachfront. It wasn't overly busy, far less than it would be in the coming weeks, and was on the comfortable side of conviviality.

Elesa was the happiest. "I told you this place was nice," she offered. Nobody said anything; they couldn't disagree.

Dawn thought that silence had never felt so comfortable.

* * *

"I love fish. Nom nom nom," Skyla mumbled happily, chewing indecorously on the food wadded up at the end of her fork. It was her second plate and her enthusiasm had not been dented by the sizeable first.

As Elesa rolled her eyes, Dawn laughed at the redhead's antics. "They have the best fish here by the sea."

It had been a great evening, with more laughing than talking. The initial worries of the day had completely dissipated, and the four were getting along famously. Cynthia had now relaxed to the point where she was no longer worrying about Skyla and Elesa's opinions, and concentrated happily on having a good time.

"So Dawn," Elesa blushed, embarrassed at Skyla's lackadaisical nature, "let's talk about the real issue."

"And what would that be?" Dawn smiled back.

"How you and Cynthia met, I mean," the blonde shot back, moving her eyebrows mischievously. "We've been friends with her for at least, what, four years?"

Cynthia nodded in confirmation. "We still haven't tamed Skyla."

"Mmmmmmfffmfmmm," Skyla agreed.

"We haven't heard from her for six months, and suddenly she appears with a girlfriend - a gorgeous girlfriend - in tow? It's enough to make anyone jealous." She looked at Cynthia. "I would never have guessed that you were the type, y'know. Stuff must really have happened."

Dawn finished eating her own fish. She pre-emptively nudged the remnants towards Skyla and moved her chair up to sit next to Cynthia, before abandoning the effort and just deciding to sit on Cynthia's lap instead.

"Hey," Cynthia smiled, turning her attention back to the conversation at hand whilst wrapping both of her own around Dawn's waist. "I first met her in Eterna City. I don't know how your Sinnoh geography is, but it's a major city there," she explained.

Skyla swallowed. And took a breath. "Right," she stated. Apparently she had been paying attention too. "And this was last year?"

"That's right," Dawn chirped. "I guess we can tell you that story from the beginning."

Elesa and Skyla settled in to her explanation of how events in Sinnoh had unfolded, becoming utterly enrapt in the tale of the chase of Team Galactic and the events of the Distortion World. When it came to this, the two Unovans were completely in disbelief.

"Jeez, Dawn, Cynth, that sounds scary. And unrelatable to," Elesa said, plainly. "If you guys weren't telling us it I wouldn't believe it."

"I was... I was shitting myself," Dawn admitted. "Cyrus scared me. I was so relieved to be out of his clutches," Dawn blinked back the more difficult parts of that memory. "After defeating Team Galactic, the rest of the Sinnoh League was.. well, not a cursory effort, but I wasn't nearly as intimidated any more."

"And I thought Gym administration paperwork was tough," Elesa said, her eyes bright with admiration. "Don't ever do something so dangerous again, okay?"

"I'm sure we won't," Cynthia began. "But you know what adventuring is like these days. I heard that there's been a fair share of commotion recently around here, too."

Skyla frowned. "Hm, yeah. Who knows what it is with all of these crazy antagonistic teams?"

Cynthia shook her head. "I don't know. What I do know is that collecting all of the Sinnoh Pokémon League Gym Badges is impressive for anyone, even without extradimensional motivation. I think Dawn managed it in a record pace. She really was - well, still is - something."

Dawn gave Cynthia's waist a squeeze for the compliment. "The Pokémon League was much harder though."

"They usually are," Skyla said wryly. "It's the twenty-first New Unovan Conference in a few months' time. I'd be drowning in challenges right now if Elesa didn't call me and tell me to take the week off for a holiday. Which you two have certainly brightened up the start of."

"Skyla might seem completely ditzy, but she's remarkably sharp at serious competition," Elesa said. "But I think you are perceptive enough to pick that up, Dawn."

Dawn nodded. "They don't give away Gym leaderships for nothing."

Elesa seemed happy. "I hope you don't mind telling us how you did, Dawn? In the League tournament, I mean."

"I can't, it's embarrassing," the blue-haired-girl said, looking sideways-down at the table, at her half-dissected fish which was subtly making its way over to Skyla's plate with no help of its own.

"Did you not do so well?" Elesa looked sympathetic, and looked at the girl next to her. "I don't think we did very well either the first time, did we?"

"No," Cynthia interjected, quite amused by the situation. "She did not do badly at all. In fact she did quite well."

"In fact, as I recall, she won the entire tournament."

Elesa, who had been taking a drink, choked on the liquid in her throat. "Holy shit," she spluttered. "Sorry. But, wow. Wow! Holy shit. Well done, Dawn. That's, well, I don't know what it is, but I don't think it's been done very much before if ever," she said, tripping over the words in a rush. "Wow!"

Dawn blushed and sank lower in Cynthia's lap. "T-thanks," she offered.

Skyla laughed at Dawn's modesty. "Well, you really must be good then," she said.

"Cynthia neglected to mention she was Champion," Dawn stated, still embarrassed. "So I wasn't feeling as much pressure as I might have been if I knew what was coming. I'd like to claim the credit for making my way through the tournament brackets. But in all honesty, it was my team of Pokémon that did all the work. I did far less than they did."

"I-I guess it wasn't too bad a showing..." she finished, lamely.

Elesa choked on her drink a second time. "Shit! I have got to stop doing that," she coughed. "So you and Cynthia actually had a battle? Fuuuuuuck."

Cynthia held Dawn's hand. "I think Elesa is jealous that the last time we battled I whitewashed her entire team..."

"Your Garchomp is over-powered," the other blonde mumbled.

"S-so how did it go," Skyla ventured.

"Cynthia w-won," Dawn stammered, "though it was close. To the last member of each of our teams..."

Skyla whistled, satisfied. "Well, that's much better than I've ever done. I think you should have my job."

The blue-haired girl smiled. "I don't think I could do the plane-flying part."

"Doesn't matter, it should be easier to learn that part than the battling, Cynthia is fucking insane," Skyla joked. "Seriously. I mean I'm sure she's cute when you're alone with her, but in a professional capacity, she wrecks basically everyone she touches. Tell me your secrets, O wise Dawn."

Dawn looked a little happier. "I don't think Cynthia would like it if I told you the only secrets I have," she smiled. "I guess it must just be natural talent, right?"

Skyla huffed. "I guess. That doesn't really help the rest of us mere mortals though, eh?" She smiled. "Okay. So what happened after that? After you had a battle?"

"Well, not much," Cynthia admitted, "and a great number of the things that did happen are too insalubrious to talk about to your friends in a public eatery."

All four girls around the table felt their faces heat up.

"Suffice it to say that our relationship quickly turned from professional to friendly to romantic," Cynthia said, remembering. "The aftermath was pretty messy. But," the blonde said, smiling, "after we got that part out the way, we came over here to get away from all the stress and try to work out where everything was in relation to everything else. I think it's worked pretty well."

Dawn nodded. "I've really enjoyed having some time off from everything, and well, getting to know more about my long-time crush." She fiddled with Cynthia's fingers. "But what we do next, I don't really have much of an idea."

"I'm sure you'll think of something," Elesa said. "Hell, if you want to stick around in Unova for a while, we'd really enjoy it. Right, Sky?"

Skyla looked like a Buneary caught in the headlights as she surreptitiously finished chewing the last parts of Elesa's food. She smiled, tilted her head and looked happy. "Mmmmphfhf!"

Elesa thought for a while. "Cynthia, how great are the demands on your time? Do you need to go back to Sinnoh any time soon? You are the Champion, after all."

Cynthia sighed. "I don't know. In all honestly I should probably be back there already. The fact that the conference season just finished gives me a bit of breathing room, but I don't know whether I even want to go back at all right now. As much as I love battling and being the Sinnoh Champion, well, it all gets much less appealing when you have an amazing partner to spend all your time with."

Skyla looked at the table. "I can imagine," she said.

Cynthia and Dawn looked at each other, a silent pledge to discuss the issue later on.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Thank you to all those who favourited and followed in the last week! It's somewhat gratifying to see such high readership levels.**

**I'm terribly sorry for the delay in uploading this latest chapter. I found it rather difficult to write. Hope you enjoy as always!**

* * *

The hangar was ostensibly empty, though it soon became full of the noise of Skyla pulling back the great rusting, partitioned door at the entrance. With nothing inside to soak up the noise, it was quite grating, and reverberated throughout the hundred-foot empty space. Skyla's three guests shuddered, whilst Skyla herself seemed to relish it.

"Remind me why we're here and not in your Gym," Elesa complained.

"Because my Gym is being refitted, remember," Skyla huffed, beckoning them inside. "You're not the only one who likes to change things up, you know. Well, not that I really had a choice in the matter. Apparently the League said it was _dangerous_! Can you believe it?"

Elesa tried not to laugh. Failing, she leaned down and whispered to Dawn. "It was full of fans and cannons and all sorts before."

"Hey, hey, I heard that," Skyla cried. "If the trainers can't deal with a little bit of physical excitement, how are they gonna be ready for the big League challenge? It's not dangerous. It's _character building_."

Dawn looked around the hangar. They were in one of the disused parts of Mistralton Airport, and it showed. The building clearly hadn't been used in years. Flakes of rusted sheet metal swirled with the infamous local mist in a dancing pattern at various points in the roof, and light was shining through various small holes as well as the fading, sheet plastic windows. The dirt floor of the hangar was dry and firm, devoid of anything except the markings that fit the purpose Skyla had put it to.

It was also rather cold, despite the fact it was nationally nearly high-summer. Mistralton's position next to the mountains and its relatively high elevation meant that Dawn was thankful that Skyla had, unusually, forethought to warn them of the climate. Cynthia had laughed when Dawn had insisted on bringing her Sinnoh winter red coat and scarf to a beachside resort, but her temerity had been rewarded. Dawn was rather pleased, and in truth, a bit smug. Skyla seemed immune to the cold, eschewing her usual suspenders for a plain grey practice jumpsuit. Elesa and Cynthia were also warmly dressed, but as usual, Elesa's outfit was so enviably fashionable it overshadowed everyone else's.

Not that they were here for a fashion parade.

They had all come here in one of Skyla's planes, so that was rather cool, Dawn supposed. None of the quartet were a stranger to flying, having done it with their Pokémon many times before. But you could definitely appreciate these things more when you got to travel at a higher altitude and didn't have to cling onto your teammate for dear life. The views around the mountains of Unova were exemplary, and reminded Dawn and Cynthia quite a lot of home.

"Good luck," Cynthia said, smiling. She hesitated, before giving Dawn a kiss on the forehead. "I'm sure you'll do great."

"I'm sure I will," Dawn said back. "I'll expect more when I win, okay?"

Cynthia laughed and squeezed Dawn's hand. "Okay."

"OK OK OK, break it up you two," Elesa teased. "We're in Mistralton, not Kiss-tralton!"

Nobody responded. Silence reigned. Even the light wind died down, leaving the hangar utterly quiet and still. Somewhere in the wider world, an elderly man - tired with life - took his last drink in this world, and took a step from the high stone bridge into the empty air below.

"Still not good at those, huh," Elesa said embarrassedly, scratching her head. Skyla gave the blonde a coy smile that seemed to communicate just how embarrassing her friend was sometimes.

Cynthia had by now taken the chance to stand out of the way, over by the left wall. She wondered if the metal would bear her weight, and gingerly tested it. Apparently it would. She leaned against it. "At least stadiums have chairs," she muttered.

Dawn moved across the dirt to take up her own position at her end of the field. She ran her shoe over the white line that was painted there and took a deep breath.

Elesa took a deep breath, too, and began -

"This is an – ah, damn it Skyla, what is it? Official or unofficial?"

"Ask Dawn how confident she feels," Skyla said, bouncing on her toes, projecting her own confidence quite easily.

"I'm confident enough!" Dawn cried back, tightening her grip on her belt. "I can handle these stakes! Give me your best shot!"

"Very well," Elesa said, bowing to the air. "In which case… this is an official Unovan League Pokémon match between the lovely Miss Skyla of Mistralton City –"

Skyla grinned.

"and the even lovelier Miss Dawn of Twinleaf Town."

Skyla scowled. Dawn curtsied politely, earning applause from the battle's only spectator.

"It is a standard regulations three versus three match, single Pokémon only. You may switch only after knockout. Use of items is prohibited. Ummm umm umm," Elesa frowned, scanning her crib card for the other things she had to say. "In the event of a tie the challenger loses. Wait, what? You're both challenging each other. You gave me the wrong card, I think, Sky."

Skyla looked keen. "It won't be a tie."

Dawn nodded, agreeing. "No, it won't be."

Elesa grinned at their determination, tilting her head. "Okay! Any questions?"

Both girls shouted to the negative.

"Begin!"

* * *

Dawn recalled her Empoleon and did a modest curtsy to their rafter-packing audience of two.

Skyla shook her head, staring dumbly at the dirt. Dirt which was scratched, beaten, saturated with water in several places, and even on fire in one corner. Not to mention the profoundly unconscious Pokémon lying face down in it right in front of the Flying-type expert. Skyla recalled her Swoobat and let out a small laugh.

"How the hell does dirt burn?" Skyla wondered aloud.

Dawn bit her lip. "I don't know…" she stated, before smiling wryly. "I guess you were right, Sky. It wasn't a tie…"

Skyla laughed, walking over to shake Dawn's hand. Dawn accepted it with all the grace she could bestow. Skyla ran her other hand through her hair whilst making noises of false-consternation, but in truth, the red-headed pilot was pleased Dawn was every bit as good at battling as Cynthia had hyped her up to be. Dawn was characteristically loath to admit it; one of the reasons Skyla had persuaded her into this battle in the first place.

Well, that and two bottles of white wine; the two bottles that had left Skyla waking up dizzy - and with a sloppily-written challenge receipt in her hand - the morning after the night before. At least it made for a day out…

Dawn wandered round, trying to find something to put out the still-reluctantly-burning fire.

"No, it really wasn't close, was it? Hey, Ellie," she called over at their referee, who had rather quickly abandoned her duties to observe what had been a pretty exciting match. Elesa interrupted her post-match analysis chat with Cynthia, looking up expectantly. Skyla continued. "So when should we give this girl a job?"

"I don't think she would take it, unfortunately," Elesa called back. "She's already committed, don't forget."

"Hm, yeah," the red-head muttered. "You've got some serious talent, Dawn. I mean that move with your Gastrodon… that's something I would never have expected. And look at this place. Everything I threw at you and your team members just slid off. I'm surprised you didn't bring out a Goodra."

"What's a Goodra? And why would I have one…?"

"Some big dragon thing from some other region. Apparently it's pretty slippy. I dunno."

"…Oh."

"Pretty sure Iris has one. Remind me about it some time, I'm sure she'll show you." Skyla raised herself up, proud. "I might not be a battling virtuoso, but I can certainly make introductions!"

"I will." Dawn looked happy, tipping the bucket of sand she had found somewhere onto the last of the incendiary works. She neatly set it aside. "Thanks for our battle, Skyla."

Her opponent nodded. "I think I learned more from it than you did. Come on -" Skyla extended her voice over to the chatting blondes, before continuing, "- let's get back to my place. Should be a bit less cold, anyway. I think it's time to discuss what to do with our prodigy, here."

The four girls stepped out into the thick Mistralton fog, which had only intensified over the last hour or so.

Elesa looked thoughtful, walking alongside Dawn. "I think we should tie her up and interrogate her for battle secrets," she voiced. "Anyone feel the same?"

Cynthia smiled mischievously. "I don't think I would mind that in the slightest. But maybe not for battle secrets."

Elesa and Skyla started laughing; Dawn covered her face and delivered a gentle smack on Cynthia's hand.

"Just wait 'til I get you back inside," Cynthia smiled.


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Hey, it's that author guy whose story you've been reading! Here's Chapter 6. Hope it's good. As ever, I welcome your feedback and ideas. **

* * *

Mistralton City was a weird place, Cynthia mused. In fact, there was really not much in the area that left you able to call it a true city and still keep a straight face. Quite aside from that, building an airport in a place where visibility was so often reduced was optimistic to the point of hopelessness. Cynthia supposed it a miracle the residents hadn't killed themselves at the first sign of one of their vegetable crops failing, such was the tedium and quiet of this town – and all this damn mist making the sound of a rampaging Rhydon quieter than the most timid of Whismurs did not, most assuredly, not help matters.

Not that there was a Rhydon rampaging recklessly through the streets, you understand. Such a thing would be far too exciting.

It really wasn't surprising Skyla took every damn chance she could get to escape the place in one of her planes. Cynthia wondered what it was that kept bringing her back, and what possessed her to live so far from anywhere with a modicum of civilization to it. The Gym, probably.

"Remind me just why Skyla lives here again," Cynthia asked, out loud this time.

Dawn looked up from her book. "It's certainly not for the weather."

It was late evening, and rain was falling in ever-increasing quantities on the windows of Skyla's house. After the morning's entertainment, it had been an exciting day of cruising around Mistralton (ha – what excitement; even Skyla had admitted defeat after a few hours of touring the town, and seemed privately thankful once the rain had started to fall); the four had then retired back to the pilot's house, set near but not quite on the sole, concrete strip of a reason that made this place even moderately worth visiting.

It was not large, but it had two bedrooms, at least. A scattered mixture of tools, Pokémon paraphernalia, and official documents for Gym Leader administration had set a not-reassuring precedent in the entrance hall of Skyla's place, but Dawn and Cynthia had been pleasantly surprised to find the rest of the house was clean, tidy, and downright cozy. Elesa seemed unimpressed, but then the two other girls got the impression that she visited quite often.

Skyla had set Dawn and Cynthia up in a room of their own, wearing a devious smile whilst informing the couple of this fact a few hours ago. Elesa and she would be sleeping together in the room just next door, and as such were there now, doing who-knew-what. Cynthia could hear knocks and muffled banging from the party wall they shared. She shook her head. Skyla could hurt herself in her own home, she really could.

"You're right," Cynthia responded, belatedly.

"Mmmmm." Dawn made a non-committal noise.

Cynthia recognised this well. The code-noise for Don't Talk To Me, I Love The Book More was unmistakable. Cynthia glanced askance at the cover. It was some trashy romance fiction, not worth the paper it was written on. Cynthia shuddered. To think, people actually spent their spare time reading them… it defied belief.

Cynthia shook her head, and sunk further down into the double bed (the presence of which had come as a very welcome and unusual forethought by their host); reaching down towards the floor, grasping blindly until her fingers formed a hold around the strap of her C-gear, she pulled it up and started playing around with it.

* * *

Next door, the two other girls in the house were having the time of their lives.

"Ah! Sky! Not there!" Elesa squealed as she felt a soft contact in the small of her back. Skyla, emboldened, took the chance to pin her blonde-haired friend down on the bed, and immediately lay back into her, as if making up for lost time.

Elesa, her mouth full, let out an affirmative muffled shout. "Mmmmmm!" She struggled to take a breath. "P-please, Sky! Ahhh!"

Elesa struggled to get up, laid prone under Skyla's expert ministrations. Skyla showed no signs of stopping, but considerately pulled the pillow out of Elesa's mouth.

"You're such a killjoy," Skyla panted, her red hair both plastered to her forehead and sweatily cascading over the shoulders of her pyjamas. "This was the worst pillow fight I've ever been in."

Elesa tried to pull herself up, before giving up from the effort, and resuming her spread out position on the bed. "I hope Dawn and Cynthia didn't go to sleep yet. Imagine if you'd woken them up. I can't believe you have the energy for late night pillow fights at your age."

Skyla pulled her head back and grinned wolfishly. "Pfft, for one thing it's not late, for another thing we're all in my own house, and for a third thing I'm younger than you are," she finished. "Dawn and Cynthia are fine. They're probably sucking each other's faces off as we speak."

Elesa winced. "Have some tact. They are our friends, after all. I'd rather not imagine that, to be honest."

Skyla's eyes rolled. "Prude."

Elesa's eyes wandered the ceiling as she stared up from the bed. "Hedonist."

"Opposites attract," Skyla said lazily, rolling over to pull the blind closed and glancing out at the wet summer night.

"That must be why you like Dawn so much."

Skyla tilted her head in puzzlement, only for Elesa to deliver the killer blow: "after all, she's pretty good at battli- ow!"

Skyla smiled at the pillow's trajectory. She sat on her bed and folded her arms, before gazing into the middle-distance in a contemplative sort of way. "Am I really that bad, Ellie?" she said, softer and more serious. "I mean, I got pretty trounced today."

"No," Elesa said, pulling herself up to mirror her friend's pose, and looking into her eyes. "You're better than I am. Let's be honest, we're both pretty good. In fact, we're both pretty damn awesome." The two girls smiled. "But that girl is something else."

Skyla wrinkled her nose. "At least she's nice…"

Elesa laughed. "I love her," she started, before blushing very faintly and reconsidering her words. "I mean, I love the fact that she is so friendly and we're all getting on so well. And it's cool to see Cynthia again: god knows she's been non-communicative for far too long."

"Yeah."

Elesa looked into her friend's eyes, sensing the words Skyla hadn't said. "Yeah, but…"

Skyla's face turned red and she looked at her bare toes and folded legs. "I'm…" She shook her head, inwardly wondering what to say. "I'm just a bit … jealous, I guess?"

Elesa's irises flashed. "I never had you pinned as having a weakness for the ladies."

"Oh no, don't misunderstand," the red-head said, "the fact she's a girl doesn't matter. I mean, I'm not interested. Uhm," Skyla stuttered, "I only meant that I'm jealous of their relationship, rather than the individuals in it. If that makes sense."

Elesa supposed that, in a rather roundabout method of mentioning it, that it did.

"I get the impression that it's as new to them as it is to us," Elesa said. "But it seems to be going well. Give it six months, and we can start worrying as they try to pair us up." Elesa realised what she said. "With other people, I mean. Cynthia strikes me as the world's most cynical matchmaker, she really does."

Skyla smiled. "A job that requires strategy, cunning, _and_ ruthlessness? I wouldn't doubt it for a second."

The two gym leaders lapsed into a content silence after that, the calm of the evening only punctuated by the rainfall that continued to hit the windows of Skyla's house.

* * *

Dawn came to the end of the chapter in her book, marked the page, and set it aside. She stretched and yawned. Quite contrary to Skyla's salacious earlier suggestion, the only face-sucking being done was by the protagonists of the novel. Regardless, reading about romanticism was _tiring_. Dawn needed a break.

"I thought you would never finish with that book. I'm beginning to suspect you love a story more than me," Cynthia muttered.

Dawn smiled. "Killjoy," she said. "It's just a book. You can't disagree that reading is better than sitting here listening to Skyla and Elesa doing god-knows-what in the next room." She blushed. "Not that we can judge, I guess…"

Cynthia smiled. "I would be very surprised if they were doing that. Skyla probably has a skydiving chamber or knife-throwing range or something like that installed in the next room. You know what she's like."

Dawn nodded and yawned. Cynthia was tired, too, though as ever, she tried her best not to show it. Her face was lit up by the glow of the capacitive screen in her hands, which was making any efforts to seem alert and interested on her side ultimately futile. Dawn fought through the inches of intervening duvet to snuggle up against Cynthia's side, resting her head on the taller girl's shoulder.

"Whatcha doin'," Dawn asked, in a playful manner.

Cynthia turned her head and smiled. "Looking at my messages. Apparently they are coping just fine without me so far over at the Sinnoh League headquarters. I don't know whether I should feel happy, relieved, or redundant."

"You can be all three, then you don't have to go back!" Dawn said, before her transient smile faded. "I don't think you would enjoy that very much, though." She bit her lip, and spoke again, more quietly: "I guess our holiday is gonna be over soon, huh."

Cynthia put her C-gear to the side, this time on the cabinet instead of the floor, before responding reassuringly. "It's not so bad. Lucian says there's no particular hurry to return, so we have a few weeks more, at least."

She paused. Dawn picked up on it.

"…so what's the catch?"

Cynthia shook her head. "Nothing terrible. But apparently it's the time of year the PWT is firing up again and Skyla, Elesa and I are requested to attend in an official capacity." The blonde chewed on that for a moment. "Which means pretty much the same thing as working at the Sinnoh League. Battle the challengers and deal with the PR stuff, with bonus points for doing it all in a glamorous manner. Though truth be told, I think Elesa is better at that than me. She loves the lights, the stage, the fans." She shook her head. "I hate fans."

Dawn pouted, mischievously. "I'm your fan," she reminded Cynthia. "Do you hate me?"

Cynthia laughed. "I hate the fans I don't sleep with." Dawn laughed too.

"But seriously," the blonde began again, "We'll have to make a trip down to Driftveil City in a few weeks, at the start of August. I hope that's alright."

Dawn gave Cynthia a reassuring squeeze. "Doesn't sound so bad. I'm sure it'll be exciting to go down there…" Inspiration struck. "So who competes in this tournament thing?"

Cynthia, tired as she was, caught onto Dawn's intent immediately. "You wanna be one of them?"

"Hell yeah," Dawn nodded. "Though, I'd prefer not to whip Skyla quite so comprehensively at a public showing. I don't think she would stay my friend after that…"

"Ever full of confidence," Cynthia replied. "But I suppose you have the ability to back it up. I'll see what I can do, okay? I've been going to this thing for the last few years, so I might have some influence with the organisers. It's still relatively new, so hopefully there won't be too many bureaucratic hurdles to jump through to get you signed up." She thought a little. "I guess we have Sky and Elesa onside, too. We'll deal with it tomorrow, how's that sound?"

Dawn's face looked very happy indeed. "That sounds great! Thank you so much!"

Cynthia mirrored Dawn's expression, before her face slumped and she said, "Right now I think it's time for bed, though."

Dawn could not disagree. She stretched out, turned the light out, and slid into bed, before cuddling up against her tall, string-pulling blonde lover.

As Dawn's head hit the pillow and she closed her eyes, Cynthia took the initiative to speak what would prove not to be the last words of the night:

"Dawn, you were reading a book about romantic trysts and you want to _sleep_ already? I'll show you who's the real killjoy…"


End file.
